The present invention relates in general to drive shafts which are rotatably driven at one extreme in order to impart rotation to multiple members which are attached to the shaft. More particularly, the present invention relates to a coupling which is utilized to join together short shaft sections in order to form one long continuous shaft. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a flexible coupling which is utilized to join together short shaft sections in order to form a continuous flexible shaft.
In many document sorting systems an auger drive assembly is utilized to drive individual stacker pocket augers positioned along the length of the drive assembly. Typically, such a drive assembly is composed of a long drive shaft on which pocket augers are mounted, the drive shaft being supported by multiple pillow blocks with a drive attached at one end of the drive shaft. The auger drive assembly is typically enclosed by stacker pocket assemblies and replacement of any component of the auger shaft necessitates removal of most, if not all, of the stacker pocket hardware. As a result, the cost of replacing a broken or damaged auger or shaft is quite high.
In the prior art, flexible couplings have been proposed to join together shaft sections. All known prior art couplings have a relatively large outside diameter in comparison with the shaft size and generally require the shaft sections to be longitudinally repositioned in order to attach a coupling to interconnect the shaft sections. Although the prior art couplings may reduce service time to some extent, the requirement of repositioning the shaft sections in order to attach the couplings still requires a significant amount of service time.
It is a general object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and thereby reduce field service time by providing individual but continuous coupling driven shafts which together form an auger drive assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coupling having an outer diameter which is approximately the same size as the diameter of the shaft sections coupled together.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drive shaft formed by coupling together short drive shaft sections wherein the shaft sections need not be longitudinally repositioned in order to attach a coupling between the shaft sections.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible coupling for joining together rigid shaft sections to produce a continuous, flexible shaft which may be directed around abutments.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a coupling for joining together shaft sections wherein a rotational force applied to one shaft section will be transferred to each coupled shaft section.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a drive shaft formed by short segmented coupling driven sections rather than a long continuous shaft.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a flexible coupling which joins together short shaft sections to form a long flexible shaft.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a segmented, coupled shaft wherein segments of the shaft or components mounted thereon may be easily replaced in an environment where there is limited access to the shaft.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparant from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment when read in conjunction with the drawings.